Mary M. Richard Education Law Blog on Lawyers.com

During the past 48 hours of coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School
massacre, several residents of Newtown, Connecticut have come forward to attest
that the Newtown School District is a wonderful school district. Like many other
public school districts, Newtown probably does provide a fine public education
for many students. However, some of the "breaking news" indicates that this may
not have been true in the case of its former student, Adam Lanza.

The
developing facts of the school massacre are probably all too familiar to
attorneys who, like me, represent parents of children with autism and other
neurodevelopmental disabilities in special education matters. About twice per
year, in the course of representing parents in special education mediations, the
facts compel me to tell the school district and area education agency involved,
"This situation needs to change immediately – you’re incubating a school
shooter."

Today I am thankful beyond words for the fact that on those
occasions, the school districts involved have been represented by a prominent
and insightful school attorney who is well-versed in both special education and
special education law. Each time she has recognized the risks involved, and has
guided her clients to make the necessary changes. As a result, while
representing our clients zealously and with integrity, we have helped them solve
problems before violence occurred or escalated. I should add here that I am
thankful that many situations which hold potential for future violence are
resolved through the work of insightful and highly skilled teachers. I count my
own sister, who teaches in an out-of-state public school, among those bright
stars.

There seems to be no doubt that Adam Lanza’s disabilities played
a role in his violent acts. According to the networks, Tim Dalton, a neighbor
and former classmate of Adam’s said, "Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we
were five years old." Adam’s paternal aunt, Marsha Lanza, explained that Adam
had experienced school difficulties since middle school, and that his mother,
Nancy, fought with the School District about his needs related to autism
spectrum disorder until she gave up and pulled him out of high school in order
to home school him.

While much of today’s media coverage seems to be
focusing on the fact that Nancy Lanza apparently kept unsecured guns in her
home, there’s more to this story than that lethal error of judgment. From my
perspective, I am wondering what happened or didn’t happen in the course of
Adam’s public school education that caused him to decide to massacre teachers
and students in his home school district.

While public figures are
calling for "meaningful change" in order to prevent future school massacres,
they seem to be limiting their discussion to issues involving access to guns and
lack of access to mental health care. I have heard no discussion of an
investigation into how Adam’s experiences in the Newtown School District, which
consumed nearly half of his waking hours, five days per week, 180 days per year,
for more than ten years, may have laid a foundation for his violent retaliation
against the school district on Friday. Had the School District worked more
effectively with Adam and his mother, might Friday's violence have been averted?


While it may be difficult for those who investigate the massacre to
probe this terribly wounded school district in regard to its past conduct, any
meaningful investigation into the factors that combined to produce this massacre
cannot avoid considering that even in school districts located in nice
communities, some school teachers and administrators can and do act in ways that
contribute to the propensity of some children to harm themselves and others in
terrible ways.